,0 



'-. 








^^. -^ 










V" f ' • °' c 






















■.y. 

























■a? ^ 




*■^ 



The Legend 

of the 

Finder Lakes 




With 
Something of 

Their Indian Lore, Traditions 

And 

Present Day Charms 



By 
FRED TELLER, HISTORIAN 

Seneca County Historical Society 



SENECA PRESS PUBLISHING CO. 
Seneca Falls, N. Y. 






Coyprighted 

1920 

By FRED TELLER 




Mi I I I9^U 



©CU573355 



INDRODUCTORY 



GLANCE at the map of the State of New York will disclose 
that it has been prodigally endowed wth many natural 
physical characteristics. At its southeast corner lies a strip 
of ocean frontage, yet it is sufficient to contain one of .the 
largest and mose secure of harbors. Within it and along the 
Hudson River all the navies of the world could ride at 
anchor. 



Taking advantage of what nature has provided, 
the world's metropolis spreads out and over this 
environment. The stability, development and wealth 
of the city of New York staggers the imagination. 

Along the northern boundary of this state flows 
the river St. Lawrence. A river of a thousand isles. 
Borne upon its breast, the waters of Lake Ontario, 
itself an inland sea, forgathers with a chain of allied 
lakes the flood-tide of an ocean. 



As though nature had not already been profuse enough in the 
interior of this same state, are the Finger Lakes. They are situated 
in a country that was fashioned by the hand of the Great Spirit. He 
created it after the pattern of the Happy Hunting Grounds, the red 
man's future Heaven. 

None but a God of the Chase could have created such a country. 
In it and under the sunshine of his smile his people grew up symmet- 
rical, sunbronzed Titans. I nindian summer, the time of the harvest 
and corn dance, their lands turned into pure gold. Though seeming 
wild people and barbarians, they formed a confederation that was 
singularly effective. With crude nature's v.'capons they conquered 
and held in subjection a territory greater in extent than Rome had 
ruled in her palmiest days. 

To-day these Finger Lakes seera like an artist's dream.. Spread 
out side by side, each in its emerald setting, .iust as a jeweler would 
arrange them, these gems of the red man's God, sparkling and glis- 
tening, span with radiance the diadem that crowns the Empire State. 





(F 


;^>iiyiiiiiiiii[iwiMM 


fP- f 


^B 




ni 


P^ ^ B^ 


I^B 


f M 


m" i 


LgJ \^Mi 


H 


HH^wKjTfJH^I 


^^^^^i^H^ 


W^^^^sttF^^S^ 


^^a:\- i 


q^HpBJB^ 


rmiki"' 


tfl^^^jTJHj 


pps^i 






? 


1 



To that Big Sachem of the Senecas 

Who sits at the Great Council Fire 

at Washington 

and so fully represents a goodly porton of the 

Finger Lakes Country, 

The Hon. Norman J. Gould, 

this work is 
most respectfully inscribed. 




The Legend of the Finger Lakes 



By Fred Teller. 



(Copyrighted 1920.) 




The Water Trail. 



If a hundred and fifty odd years ago 
you were under the necessity of jour- 
neying- into the interior of the central 
l)art o^ the State of New York your 
easiest method of doing so would have 
l>een by water. 

The Indians embarking in their birch- 
cn canoes near the site of the present 
city of Schenectady, the Tndian mean- 
ing of which is "the river valley be- 
j'ond or through the pine trees," pad- 
dled wcstwaid in comparatively good 
t hough shallow water up the Mohawk 
river against a sluggish current. The 
course lay around many twists and 
bends and through and over a con- 
.siderable numljer of rifts and rapids. 
The most noteworthy drop in the river 
was at vv'hat was called "The Falls," 
now "Little Falls." Hero the water of 
ihe Mohawk fell a distance of forty 
feet. 

The cniry from the landing at the 
loot of the falls to the landing at the 
lir;)(l of the falls was a distance cf 
t 111 cc (iiiaiters of a mile. 

Tlicre would have been encountered 

»"" <^ course of this trip mnnv shallow 

I . o-"'' toids where there were loose 

p'^ , r gravel on the bottom where 

i .jjCnt rnn gently. Here the water 
he vG" 

filt.'icd murmured softlv a;-; it 



rippled almost imperceptably upon its 
way, humming a monitone amid the 
hush of nature's solitude. 

It was at these crossing places where 
by devious paths you could manage to 
get from one side of the river to the 
other with difliculty that the deer and 
otlier animals came down from their 
(lens and lairs in the neighboring for- 
ests and putting their muzzles into 
the depressions in the gravelly bed of 
the river quenched their thirst. 

At other places the beaver had felled 
timber across some tributary or the 
streain itself and dammed the water 
so that it spread out into great wide 
stretches of wet and marshy land. 

The voyagers at many of these places 
liad to disembark and either float over 
or carry their loads around the ob- 
structions. Always it was against the 
ciinent. Always the grade ascended 
atid ran more or less uphill. It re- 
quired constant push and endeavor all 
of the way. 

In this manner quite leisurely and 
deliberately as was the custom, and in- 
tl;'( d the alisolute necessity because of 
conditions ns they existed in those days 
\"ou eventually arrived at the headquar- 
ters of the Mohawk. 

tt was at this place that "Old Fort 
.Scthuyler" v.-as afterward built. It wns 



a place of considerable stragetical im- 
portance. The different forts that were 
erected at or near there are woven 
into the history of the French and In- 
dian, Colonial and Revolutionary wars. 

The enterprising city of Rome and 
its environs are spread out at and 
around this very interesting and his- 
toric locality. 

It was at this place that the first 
stage of the journey ended. The voy- 
agers had arrived at "The Portage" as 
this place was known in those days. It 
was a little over one hundred and twen- 
ty miles out from the starting point 
near Schenectady. 

It was the ridge of the watershed 
that fed the streams that flowed on its 
••astern slope down into the Mohawk 
valley and upon its western side began 
the tributaries that flowed in an op- 
posite direction down into what was 
known as "The Land of Many Lakes." 
now better known as "The Finger Lake 
Region" of central New York. 

Singularly enough the early survey- 
ors in running their levels found that 
the source of the Mohawk at this 
point was some two feet and a fraction 
higher than an adjacent stream to the 
west, then and still known as Wood 
Creek, which flowed by easy descent 
into the Oneida lake. 

A bend in this latter stream brought 
these two places close together here so 
that The Carry or Portage was but a 
scant mile. 

Here it was everybody out. So with 
many a grunt and guttural exclamation 
the contents of the canoes wore un- 
loaded and distributed. Then the boats 
titemselves were withdrawn from the 
water. Then in a long Indian file as 
the rcdmen were accustomed to tiavcl 
they trailed away to the west. 

First came the leading men of the 
party. They were not by any moans 
overly laden, as they simply bore their 
arms and accoutcrments. Next came 
the squaws, staggering under the 
weight of the overturned canoes. These 
were fastened by a deerskin throng or 



head strap passing around the fore- 
head. Behind these came the strag- s 
glers, children, papooses and camp-fol- I 
lowers generally. The rear end was I 
usually safeguarded by a few trusted f 
warriors, who traveled a short distance 
Ijehind. Each one carried a burden of 
some kind, their allotment of supplies, ^ 
utensils or camp equipment. 

Time is comparative. A century is 
as scientists tell us as scarce a move- ^ 
ment of the second hand upon the 
great cycle of time. While as regards 
eternity it is as but imperceptability. 

Therefore, let us suppose that as the 
last straggler having gathered together A 
his allotment to have paused that im- I 
perceptible second before swinging into I 
the end of the line and like Lot's wife « 
looked back upon his trail. 

As he indifferently parted the under 
brush and turned to look backward to 
the place where they had pulled their 
boats out of the water, let us imagine ^ 
aLso that the calculations of the scien- 
tists to have suffered an exceedingly 
slight miscalculation. As a consequence *■ 
time slips forward an inconsequential 
century or so. ^ 

What a change ensues before the 
eyes of the 4)eering red man. He can 
not realize it. Quickly he raises his * 
four fingers and closing them together i 
places them against his forehead. Thus J 
shielding the sun from his eyes he 
looks keenly and intentlj'. All of his 
faculties of woodcraft are brought to - 
bear that he may in some way solve 
this mystery. 

An unbelievable transformation has 
taken place before his eyes. He is peer- 
ing across the intervening years, and ' 
his eyes are beholding the ceasless in- 
dustrial action that is occurring to-day 
in this twentieth century. 

Gone are the waving verdure of the 
quiet peaceful tapestried greenwood.' 
Before him he sees and hears a strange 
head-throbbing bedlam. His eyes ^>e- 
hold the turmoil and activities that 
occuriing in the present enterpris 
city of Rome. The wonders of mof 
achievement are pursuing their e 



day round of the white man's burden 

j-before his vision. 

Amongr other marvels he sees sweep- 
ing by like a flash is a massive snort- 

'\\ng terrifying geni. It is the modern 
type of the powerful locomotive draw- 
ing its long train of Pullman drawing 

i^room coaches as with a final shriek of 
the whistle, ringing of bells and grind- 
ing of the brakes it pulls in at the 
Rome railroad station. 
It discharges passengers that have 

made the same trip that his party has 
u 
taken days of hard toil to make in as 

many hours. Had he chanced to have 

.^raised his gaze upward to the heavens 
he would have seen a greater monstros- 
ity still. He would have seen the 

-birdman as he swept gracefully thro' 
the air who would have counted the 
same trip as a matter of minutes. 

Bewildered and astounded, had he 
assumed to have spoken of these things 

^, to his fellows as they sat around the 
camp fire that evening, how quickly 
they would have stalked his breath to 
the windward to see if he had been 
drinking of the firewater of the pale- 
faces. 

If they had not found this to have 
been the cause of his strange delusions, 
how sadly they would have shaken 
their heads. How quickly and how 

J summarily they would have hustled 
him over to the medicine man's wig- 
wam. What powerful and drastic treat- 

' ment of counter magic they would have 
givon him to drive out of his system 

^ those rvil devils that were the cause 
without question of such strange hal- 
lucinations; 

It was customary after making the 
carry at The Portage to go into camp 

,tor a few days somewhere along Wood 
Creek. This was for the purpose of 
going over the canoes and equipment, 

'to rest up after completement of the 
strenuous part of the journey and per- 
chance to hobnob with the other camp- 
' -i-S parties that might for a similar 
njrpose be sojourning along the creek. 
<' You must remember that this was 

I the great natural water highway in 



those days. The route that led east 
and west through the state. Where 
the voyagers were now stopping was 
also, figuratively speaking, the thresh- 
old over which one passed into the 
entryway that at the other end opened 
into the country of the Finger Lakes. 

The nomadic habits of the aboriginal 
people inhabiting this region at this 
time was such that you were almost 
sure of finding one or more of these 
restless, roving tribal parties making 
camp along its banks. The embers of 
many former campflres were strewn 
along the borders of this stream. 

It made no difference whether the 
parties were traveling east or west, it 
was but natural to stop here as long as 
they had to disembark anyway. So as 
they were in the habit of following the 
lines of least resistance and time was 
not a very valuable asset, it had be- 
come a matter of custom to tarry here 
for a more or less extended period. 

Here they were liable to meet fishing, 
hunting and parties of various kinds 
that were going into the interior coun- 
try or beyond, some even going as far 
west as the Ohio country. Then there 
were Sachems, Sagamores and their 
followers on their way either to or 
from the councils at the Great Council 
House of the Six Nations at Onondaga. 
Then there were warriors, braves, In- 
dian runners and war parties, prison- 
ers, captives, Jesuit missionaries and 
a motley procession who all made use 
of this route which nature had so hand- 
ily and conveniently fashioned for their 
u.se. 

As you can imagine, this was a 
great rendezvous, for where so many 
converging lines from so many differ- 
ent directions came together, this was 
a favorite gathering place. How many 
smoke signals, wigwams and swift 
moving moccasined feet of the Indian 
runner has gathered here an army up- 
on the occasion of a foray upon an 
enemy's territories. 

One notable occasion many may re- 
call. It happened but a very few years 
later than the time of which we are 



hi 



writing. It was when General St. 
Leger, some British and Canadian regi- 
ments and "The Royal Greens" joined 
forces here with the Butlers, Brandts, 
Johnsons and Mohawk Valley tories 
and their Indian allies, a portion of 
which were of the Six Nations. 

There was gathered here also vast 
quantities of supplies and army stores 
that had been polled and floated up 
the Wood Creek on batteaux in prepa- 
ration for descending upon and laying 
desolate the Mohawk Valley and form- 
ing a junction with General Burgoyne. 

Happily however there resided in 
that valley men of brave and sturdy 
frames and stout hearts. This fron- 
tier militia hastily gathered, and 
against great odds fought and won a 
short distance east of here the bloody 
and decisive battle of Oriskany. It 
was one of the most decisive battles 
in its results in American history. 

After the carry had been made by 
our travelers a camp site was selected 
somewhere along Wood Creek. By the 
time that camp had been made the day 
was pretty well spent. The odors of 
cooking venison, game and fish that 
the squaws were preparing met the 
nostrils of those with good healthy out 
of doors appetites. 

As the violet deepened into purple a 
satiety of appetite a relaxation from 
care and a period of rest and freedom 
ensued. 

Then as the evening shadows further 
deepened and the phantom shades of 
night were drawn, the lurid flame of 
the campfire blazed up. It threw out 
a cheering, mellow glow. Brightly it 
shown upon the faces and forms of 
those that were lounging or were seat- 
rd in the circle of its light. 

Some by the aid of its light were 

busy mending their traps, nets or 

spears. Adjacent stood the upright flg- 

uie of the story teller. His figure cast 

vl;rotesnue shadows against the gloom 

jing as he gesticulates in relating some 

(.fVainting adventure or tradition. His 

ijiistf ners nod approvingly as he relates 



some interesting detail or makes some 
particularly happy hit. 

The shrill voice of the squaws and 
those at their various duties carry a 
pleasant and agreeable sound as they 
call back and forth to each other. So 
also the laughter of the younger ones 
as intently at play they romp, yell and 
chase each other. Softly and at inter- 
vals upon the still night air the sad 
note of the Indian lover's lute is borne 
to us as he plaintively serenades his 
rfdskined enamorata. 

There rests over all the camp a feel- 
ing of sweet content and happy antici- 
pation, for upon a near morrow the 
canoes newly seemed and mended will 
lake the water again. Then will be- 
gin the further journey into the be- 
yonds. It will naturally be very much 
easier. The cuiient will be with us, 
and we will diiCt easily and smoothly 
along upon our way. It will require 
but little effort to manage our craft, 
simply that required to guide its course 
.ns we piorotd fuither upon our voy- 
age of exploration. 

Where the waters of Wood Creek 
t:iiiiL'li' Willi ilif \'(M->' much larger liody 
of woter known as the Oneida lake 
our bark upon an even keel will, by 
long reaches and over its wide waters, 
glidi- .nvay a.« smoothly and as grace- 
fully as does the snow-white brest of 
the wild swan to where its waters 
wash its further shore. 

At this same farther shore we will 
drift onward with the current into a 
broad river, a river of exceeding pleas- 
rntnosr; and of great extent. As we 
journey along this river we will find 
Hint there are many other streams, 
branches, inlets and waterways that 
empty into it. Most of these connect- 
ing streams we will find come into it 
from the south and many of them aie 
the outlakes from lakes. 

There are many of these lakes in 
that direction that feed these outlets 
They are of many sizes, some quite ' 
small and some much larger bodies ot 
water. They stretch a goodly distance 
across the state of New York. Alto 



gether they drain the watershed of a 
very large area of country. 

In shape several of the larger ones 
are long and narrow. They resemble 
very much in form the outstretched 
fingers of a gigantic hand. Because 
of this resemblance they have accord- 
ingly been given the name of "The 
Finger Lakes." 

It was about this same period of 
time that our travelers were toUowing 
up these watertrails into the interior 
of the present state of New York that 
his excellency, Governor Tryon of this 
provence, caused to be prepared a map 
of the territories which it now com- 
prises. This state at that time was 
still a colony of Great Britain. 

It was the first map ever attempted, 
having for its object the plotting out 
of the present entire confines of New 
York State. 

This map is now known and care- 
fully preserved in the state archives 
as the Guy Johnson map of 1771. It 
was prepared by the close relative and 
assistant of Sir William Johnson, 
whose name it bears. Certainly there 
were no persons better qualified to 
prepare a work of this character than 
this great friend of the most promi- 
nent man of his time, Sir William John- 
son. This Baronet, Sir William John- 
son, was the trusted Indian agent of 
the crown, the true friend of the load- 
ers of the Six Nations and the most 
widely known man in this connection 
in the American colonies. 

To show how little the lake region 
was known at that time, there is very 
ingeniously printed in the neighl)or- 
hood of where the lakes are situated a 
paragraph which reads "there are more 
lakes hereabouts, but they cannot be 
laid down with certainty." 

This expression holds good even to- 
day, for there are many of these lakes. 
They are of all shapes, sizes and kinds. 
Each of them has an individuality and 
certain distinct physical features char- 
acteristic of their own. 



What wonder then that in that happy 
feeling that pervaded the camp that 
evening that as into the arms of Mor- 
pheus their tired frames sank that 
their fancies ranged over and beyond 
the boundaries that lay to the west 
and miraged their anticipations into 
a Kingdom of Dreams. 

We question very much, however, 
whether any of the shapings of their 
fancy or any vision of even the Happy 
Hunting Ground itself very far ex- 
ceeded the actuality of the scenes that 
they afterward really encountered and 
became familiar with. 

Perhaps if we anticipate a little and 
go forward to a time when our travel- 
ers were cruising about among the 
Finger Lakes, we may get an inkling 
of some of the things that they saw. 

At one time we may see them in 
camp along the margin of a tiny inlet 
that they have discovered far up among 
the hills. How like a crystal gem it 
seemed hid away in this crevice. Nay, 
like a rare glistening jewel packed 
away within a casket and the green- 
sward was its grass green velvet lining. 

Again they would cruise along one 
of the larger lakes. It would take 
them quite a number of days to pass 
along it from one end to the other, let 
alone explore its tributaries. 

Then again it seemed sometimes to 
our travelers that as the prow of their 
bark parted aside the cat-tailed flag 
and tangled water growth of drift weed 
that usually guarded the entrance to 
one of these larger lakes, and they had 
unexpectedly merged into its wide and 
open water surface, that they had un- ■» 
wittingly crossed over the boundaries 
that hemmed in mortals and passed 
into a veritable fairyland. 

How still and perfect it spread 
around them in all its mirrored loveli-C 
ness. Far and away the dome of 
heaven, as it bent downward from 
above, was stake-tented down to the 
circle of the horizon. Within its comli, 
pass all was bathed in a rich sunshine 
of amber and gold. In the luminosity^ 




o X ^ ■? P 



of its waters were reflections of sylvan 
glades rare in their half-tones and re- 
flected lights. Where the deeper shad- 
.ows lay were the silken shene of rar- 
est brilliancy. Where the bold head- 
land jutted out into the lake its sharp 
outline stopped not at the water's sur- 
face, but continued fathoms down into 
its depths. 

. In the middle distance were the 
shades of purple and violet. Further 
back they merg'ed into the softer tones 
of lilac and tender g'rays, exquisite in 
the delicacy of their tones. On the 
nearer shore . were mossy banks and 
dales and glades of waving foliage. 
Down through them flowed winding 
.streams that spread out upon a shore- 
line where pebbles washed and washed 
again, until they were snowy white, 
lay spread upon a silvery strand. 

Though they have departed their 
"names are ever upon these lakes, riv- 
ers and localities. Though they have 
gone much remains that are a continual 
memento of that race of beings that 
have gone before. Much of their pres- 
' ence of an indefinite kind still lingers. 
Their spirit still seems to hover over 
and cast a spell of romance upon this 
Eden-land wherein no fig leaves grow. 

Let us venture further yet afield and 

' come down to the present. Upon the 
.'■.loaping shores of these self same lakes 

:\to-day there are situated many cities, 
towns, villages and hamlets. There 
aic also quite a number of well known 

i»colleges, seminaries and halls of learn- 
ing. There are many of the summer 

.ihomes of the wealthy as well as the 
humbler slab boathouse of the nature 
lover and enthusiast. 

\ 

The whistle from some passing train 

of cars that mayhap crosses some cor- 
J^or of this domain, or the rude blast 
ol a steamboat, as it turns the bend of 
)me landlocked lake, awakens momen- 
xrily the echoes, but as the sound dies 
^/■jway in the distance the calm and the 
'Uecluded enchantment of this region 
mesumes its sway. Nature has planned 
If per handiwork upon so large a scale. 



however, that the barbaric splendor of 
these domains remain very much as 
they were when their former posses- 
sors, the Indians, roamed them free and 
undisturbed. 

What sonorous and liquid names the 
Indians have blazed upon their trail to 
identify various localities in this pic- 
turesque country. They are composed 
usually of words of short syllables. 
They fiow as smoothly from the tongue 
as do the waterfalls and streams they 
name as they glide over crags and 
precipices or wind through dales and 
valleys down to the quiet lakes. They 
sound, as you become more familiar 
with their pronunciation, like that of 
the soothing music of falling water. 
They also express, yet in terms as a 
poet might, the clear meaning of what 
they have given title to. 

For instance, one of the largest of 
the Finger Lakes, whose silvery depths 
are as clarified as crystal and upon 
whose surface is spread in all kinds 
of fair weather a glaze of heaven's pur- 
ity, is at the present time named Sen- 
eca Lak. The Indians many years be- 
fore had named it the Kan-a-de-sa-ga. 
Expressed in the dialect of the Seneca's 
it meant "The Lake of the beautiful 
Water." 

There is situated a few miles east 
of this lake, upon its outlet, a place 
where the Seneca river widens out and 
divides into several smaller streams. 
This is to make room for and to gather 
into its embrace a number of islands. 
The several channels into which the 
river divides eddies down stream 
around them into a series of sloaping 
rapids. 

Upon these islands and upon both 
sides of the river around here has since 
been built the enterprising village of 
Waterloo. It is the northshire county 
seat of Seneca county. 

The Senecas called this place Skoi- 
yase (pronounced Skoy-yees, as of one 
syllable.) By means of wiers made of 
twigs, by spearing and by various other 
ingenious contrivances, they caught 



along these narrow waterways great 
quantities of eels. These they salted 
and dried in the sun for winter use. 
The Iroquois came from remote parts 
of the confederacy to this place to take 
part in the fishing. 

So much did they esteem these fish- 
ing grounds that in the treaty of 1789, 
entered into between the State of New 
York and the Cayuga tribe of Indians, 
there occurs in the second clause this 



In "The Catherine Vallej'" in Schuy- 
ler county in the town of Montour, is , 
the village of Montour Falls. At the 
west end of one of its principal streets 
and directly across it rises a huge *■ 
rocky barrier. High up in the hills 
above it a mountain stream has worn 
a passage way into the rock during '* 
the centuries that have gone by and 
comes rushing down to the brink and 
over the face of this barricade, break- 




reservation: "That the Cayugas slinll 
have a competent piece of land upon 
the southern side of the river (Seneca) 
at the said place (Skoi-yase) sufficient 
for the said Cayugas to land, encamp 
upon and to cure their eel." 

All along these different streams and 
inlets and upon the rich lov.' inuclvv 
bottoms on the islands grew in great 
abundance a tough, hardy shrub, which 
bore the edible blue whortleberry. It 
was from these that Skoi-yase took its 
name. Its meaning being "The Place 
of Whortleberries." 



ing into numberless cascades in its 
passage. These drop with many splat- , 
teringo and splasliings into a pool be- 
\o\i Here caught in tlie current of the 
stream it feeds it puils away to bear its » 
tribute to the waters of the Kana- 
dosag.t. The silence of this everlasting 
liill froin whence it came is broken al-' 
way by the echoes of its passage. 

The name that the followers of Cath^ . 
erine Montour gave it was the She-qua- 
gnh Falls, meaning "The Place of th!T 
Roaring or Murmiil-ing Water." Thr^V 
illustration of these falls v.ith as a fore I 



ground the west end of the village 
«^treet, was taken years ago when this 
community was named Havana. 

It shows, however, the front of the 
*Jls and the west end of the street. 
It was in front of these falls that the 
Seneca queen, whose name is blazened 
i:"pon so much of the surrounding coun- 
try, Catherine Montour, stood while 
the exiled King of France, Louis Phil- 
iTppe, penciled the wild, romantic scene. 

This ex-king at the time was touring 
across the frontier from Niagara Falls 
to our seat of government at Philadel- 
phia. This sketch was after the res- 
toration hung in the art galleries of the 
palace of the Touilleries. Nothing in 
all the realms of fiction can quite equal 
the proud history of this strange char- 
acter. With a strain of blood of one 
of the noblest families of France in 
her veins, we shall see, as this legend 
unfolds, what a remarkable career was 
^ers. 

What a marked contrast such names 
as these were to those that the white 
J.ian so indiscriminately inflicted upon 
this and adjoining portions of New 
York State. After surveyng large 
tracts of wild land into townships, a 
further difficulty arose in regard to 
Tindlng names for all of them. This 
task was at length assigned to a young, 
energetic assistant in the surveyor gen- 



eral's office. He was at the time just 
completing his Latin and Greek studies. 

The result of his industry is that the 
nomenclature of the interior of central 
New York has every indication of hav- 
ing been spawned from the dead and 
gone heroes of Greek and Latin text 
books. Its further results are that 
many communities, like southern pica- 
ninnies, have such ponderous and philo- 
sophical names that they have about 
as much relation to the place they 
naiTie as a Trogan hero of twenty cen- 
turies gone by would have in taking 
part in our great world of yesterday. 

But we have wandered far; our trav- 
elers encamped along Wood Creek are 
wrapped in slumber. A few drowsy 
sentinals keep watch and ward. The 
fires have died down dim. Anon the 
moon comes out and casts its beams 
above the treetops. It shines upon a 
mighty forest, vast in extent and ma- 
jestic in its grandeur. It shines upon 
treetrunks that are gnarled and hoary 
with age, scarred with battling with 
the old elements for unnumbered years. 
"Dark, rich and luxurious they stand 
like an enchanted army wrapped in an 
eternal sleep." Thus they have stood, 
this army of veterans, with arms uplift 
ed and at attention well nigh since the 
dawn of creation, awaiting the roll call 
of the Almighty. 




The continuation of this legend, of which this is merely introductory, 
will be of absorbing interest, it will tell you of interesting things of the 
Finger Lakes country that is not generally known, that should be known. 



*» 



^/^ 



[. 



2^ : ^0 VI 
























^0 













<^„ * 



3 *,.o- u -^ 

V c. ° " ° * >S^. 




<5> 



o*, DOBBSEROS. -^. « ^ 

l' LIBRARY BINDING ^ Q> , 

' ti -^ o ' 

^ ST. AUGUSTINE -^ 

^^ /^%, FLA. 



0^ .-"^ "^O 









^f084^Ki^v -^ c:^' 




